Q&A: World Economic Forum Davos
BBC
Once again the rich and
powerful are congregating in Davos in the Swiss mountains for the annual
meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) - but does the forum still have a
purpose?
What is the World Economic
Forum?
The WEF is a talking shop. Arguably, though, it's the
best of its kind in the world.
The concept dates back to the early 1970s, and is very
simple: Take top business leaders out of the pressure cooker of their job and
bring them together in a remote valley in the Swiss mountains. Removed from
daily routine they can freely exchange ideas, broaden horizons - and break the
ground for a deal or two.
Professor Klaus Schwab, who invented and still runs
the event, calls it "a platform for collaborative thinking and searching
for solutions, not for making decisions".
Over the years it's evolved, taking in artists,
politicians of all stripes, activists from trade unions and campaign groups,
social entrepreneurs, inventors, all sorts of clever people from universities
and think tanks, and young entrepreneurs.
That doesn't sound like a
small event anymore...
What started as a cosy chat around the log fire in a
mountain chalet is now a huge event, with more than 2,500 participants from
nearly 100 countries, hundreds of journalists, about 50 heads of state or
government and numerous other politicians.
The key ingredient, though, is the 1,600 bosses of
many of the world's top companies - not just from the West, but from emerging
economies as well.
And this is just the annual meeting, traditionally
held in the Swiss mountain village of Davos.
The once-a-year event has evolved into a year-round
succession of regional forums in all corners of the world, plus a bevy of
working groups bringing together key decision makers on global issues such as
cyber security, global risk, and fighting corruption and poverty.
All these activities are supposed to underpin the
forum's official motto: "Committed to improving the state of the
world".
And I thought it was just a
bunch of capitalists having a good time in the mountains...
Well, that's one way to see it. Yes, Davos is about
the rich and the powerful having a good time. The parties and exclusive
dinners, the deal making and schmoozing - and the skiing - are legendary.
And the exclusivity of the event has offered fertile
ground for plenty of conspiracy theories. But Davos is decidedly not a place
from which the world is run.
Still, with so many powerful people in one place, Davos
has often been targeted by the Occupy movement, following in the footsteps of
Occupy Wall Street and Occupy London Stock Exchange. Last year there were also
topless protests from the Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN.
But you have to give the forum's organisers some
credit: every year they are trying hard to put tough topics on the agenda and
add inconvenient voices to the mix. Fighting poverty, climate change and the
shortcomings of banks and companies are always big themes here.
Also remember that the forum often provides the cover
for political enemies to meet, gain mutual understanding, and even strike a
peace deal.
And then there is the fabled "Davos
consensus", when a common theme emerges that sets the global agenda for
the months to come.
What are this year's big
topics?
It's always hard to tell, but it looks like one of the
big issues will be, now that there are signs of growth again in many developed
economies, how can that growth be made more inclusive?
There's always lots of interest in the latest
technological developments and what challenges and opportunities they could
create for businesses.
And the Forum is setting out to explore how a world
population of nine billion people could be sustained.
How does it work?
It's obviously big, and in a strange way it is both
free-flowing and utterly regimented. The fairly rigid framework is provided by
hundreds of official sessions - panels, speeches and workshops - ranging from a
keynote speech from Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to a bunch of Nobel
Prize-winning economists discussing the year's economic challenges to a panel
discussing how video games are affecting the next generation.
The free-flowing is everything in between. There are
numerous private sessions and bilateral meetings. The corridors of the
concrete-and-wood confection of a conference centre are host to constant
networking and schmoozing.
Here you can hear financial regulators harangue top
bankers, trade unionists challenge the bosses of the world's biggest
multinationals, and the finest minds in economics discuss the finer points of
quantitative easing.
And what will be the outcome?
Don't expect any. Not even the organisers do. They say
that's not the forum's purpose.
But if participants go away with new ideas, new
connections, a better awareness of the world around them, and fresh ideas on
how to tackle its problems, Davos may well have served its purpose once again.